Monty’s month

This is one of my favourite times in the gar­den. Along with lots of good flow­ers, and masses of ripen­ing fruit and veg­eta­bles, its fad­ing ele­gance gives it dig­nity, and the knowl­edge that ev­ery fine day is one of the last makes them pre­cious. It’s a busy time, too, with cut­tings to be taken, seeds to col­lect, much to har­vest and hedge cut­ting all to com­plete be­fore the weather turns. The gar­den seems translu­cent this month as the light slants ever more from morn­ing’s brit­tle bright­ness to the soft evening depths that press closer and closer back into the af­ter­noon. By the end of the month dark­ness falls by 7pm and night has be­come longer than day. This changes ev­ery­thing. The hedges and trees are thin­ning, so this cant­ing light fil­ters through them and the gar­den takes on an ethe­real qual­ity, yet is still rich with colour and sub­stance as though sum­mer is grow­ing old but re­fus­ing to let go.